In the 14-year period of 2005 through 2018, canines killed 471 Americans. Pit bulls contributed to 66% (311) of these deaths. Combined, pit bulls and rottweilers contributed to 76% of the total recorded deaths. | More »

Pit Bull 'Berserks' and Attacks Four Family Members

One Victim: 2,500 StitchesUPDATE 05/05/09: The owner of the pit bull, Jason Benton, was not home when his dog attacked his whole family. He arrived about 20 minutes into the attack. Jason told the 911 dispatcher, "They have to hurry. One person is trapped inside, two others, my mom's thumb was bitten off...and it bit my brother in the face and arm...his arm is almost gone." Jason's brother Derrick received 2,500 stitches and will continue to undergo reconstructive surgery for his injuries.

05/04/09: Police Kill Attacking "Pet" Pit BullJeffersonville, KY - A family pit bull "berserked" on Sunday and attacked four family members sending all of them to the emergency room. Two of the people injured will need to undergo surgery. Derrick Benton, 25, suffered the most serious injuries (facial) and his mother, Carloetta Benton, 43, suffered injuries to her hand, including losing part of a thumb. Another woman, Dina Murphy, 18, who the dog attacked first, may have suffered a broken arm.

The pit bull did not stop attacking until police arrived and shot the animal twice in the head killing it.

DogsBite.org reminds readers that a single "family pet" (AKA pit bull) summoned police resources and two bullets to the head to stop the animal from attacking. The same single family pet also summoned at least one ambulance and a LifeFlight helicopter. The cost of these public resources and treatment of the injuries inflicted on the victims is massive. This is why most insurance companies refuse to cover pit bulls: The actuarial risk is off the charts.

If you had asked any one of them up to the attack, I’m sure they would have told you, “My dog would lick you to death before hurting you.” Yet another group of pit owners who has learned the hard way you can’t trust those dogs. At least it was the owners who paid the price and not a neighbor or someone’s child. Now they get to be responsible for their OWN medical bills.

And that’s why pit bulls need to be regulated, with part of that regulation requiring proof of insurance, including medical coverage for the owners themselves.

I don’t otherwise have a problem with pits attacking their owners. One minute they’re yammering on about how they’ll only lick you to death, just need to be raised right… blah, blah, blah. But the next minute they’re headed into surgery without medical insurance, and that burden falls on the rest of us. The attack on their owner – funny. The cost to us – not funny at all.

(If you’re a former pit bull owner, please wave your stump in the air and give me an AMEN!)

This is a good question. Personal health insurance often does not cover “accidents,” it covers care when a person “falls ill.” While perhaps many health insurance plans would cover partial payment of such an attack (a pit bull owner being attacked by his or her own dog), the question would be “how much” coverage would it provide?

Homeowners insurance covers “accidents” in a household; car insurance covers “accidents” in a car; health insurance covers you when you get cancer…state laws vary on these issues. It sure would be nice to have a knowledgeable health insurance person chime in.

Homeowners insurance covers liability and accidents on your property for guests only, not family members. It would cover the medical bills if your pit bull bit another person, whether on your property or off it, but it would not cover injuries from your pit bull to yourself or your family members. That would be covered under your medical insurance, if you had any.

I wonder if someone monitoring that station blog is a pit nutter. I was there earlier, and there were several comments countering the pit nutters. Most of those comments, including one I left, have been taken down, but the pit nutter comments remain up, even one comparing people who are for BSL to Nazis. My comment was in no way derogatory, stuck to the topic, and did not use profanity. Hmmmm….

We have had reports of a similar nature from different newspapers. The pit bull issue is a controversial one and newspaper staffs fall on both sides. Next time, “save” your comment, then report it here if the newspaper removes it.

About insurance, most will cover accidents, however, they will first try to determine if there is another party that is liable and should pay. For example, I have a bad neck. Whenever I need care for my neck, whatever insurance company I have at the time has always sent me an “Accident” form to fill out, asking about the specifics of the injury and if someone else could be liable. Neck injuries commonly happen due some sort of accident, so when they see “neck injury” on the claim form, it automatically generates an “is this someone’s else’s problem?” form. They have always paid in the end, because it is a chronic condition.

Now I’m curious about the comments on the article. I also noticed that every comment was pro-pit. The pro-pit comments would reference an anti-pit comment, but I could not find the referenced comment. So, I am going to post an anti-pit comment and see what happens.

Obviously, in this day and age, there are very few journalists that no how to report without their own personal bias. Remember the article about the pit attack where the journalist had more info about how great pits are than she did about the attack and the victims?

I just checked the article, and there are some anti-pit comments there now. Also, in the latest video, the owner admitted to police that Rocky had bitten people before. I guess they never reported the bites? I bet that owner feels like an idiot now that his mother is missing a thumb and his brother practically lost his arm. 2500 stitches and 12 hours of surgery later…I can’t even wrap my head around 2500 stitches…

Bummer — hope neither of the victims are right handed. If so, about 90% of their daily tasks just went out the window. Gotta wonder how Jason feels about potentially maiming his mother and brother FOR LIFE.

Jason obviously didn’t care when his dog attacked other people in the past. I would assume the mother and brother didn’t care all that much either. They allowed Jason and the pit bull to remain in the trailer.I suppose they were content to think that as long as it happened to someone else, it didn’t really matter. They were likely judgment proof. I suppose sometimes “judgment” takes a different form.